Jumièges, Cathedral

(2 photos)
One of the more interesting of the many ruins in France is the Notre Dame Abbey at Jumièges. This “new” Bénédictine Abbey was built in the 900s by Duke William Longsword. The Abbey at Jumièges was built with nearly white stones that have not suffered from the blackening, characteristic of buildings in major industrial areas.

At the time of the French Revolution, the abbey was sold to a merchant who made use of it as a stone quarry. When more stones were needed, explosives were used to destroy another wall or tower. They didn’t have the tourist market to justify, nor the preservationists to insist on continued maintenance.

Many buildings in this part of France were built with stones from Jumièges, just as hundreds of buildings in Rome (including St. Peter’s) were built with stones from the Coliseum Quarry.

What remains may, in some ways, appear more impressive to a tourist than seeing the completed buildings. To see, touch, and walk around in and near a ruin gives a different and at times more exciting perspective than visits to undamaged buildings that are still in use.
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